Ever since I first heard "Blessed Be" by Jason Gray from his album All the Lovely Losers I was hooked by the emotional and biblical messages of his songs. Jason is an anointed songwriter and he has a profound way of affecting me deeply with his poignant words, tender singing, and inspirational truths.

For Jason's newer listeners, this album is loaded with the type of musical hooks that have made him a radio fixture from his string of hit songs, "More like Falling in Love," "I Am New," "Remind Me Who I Am," "Good to Be Alive" and "Nothing is Wasted." For his longtime fans of his entire body of singer-songwriter work, you'll be thrilled to add this album to your collection, his best overall album in my opinion.

This album opens with the radio-friendly and fun song "Laugh out Loud." which showcases Jason's gifts as a songwriter. The song features an upbeat musical bed and opens with the lyrical word pictures, "I shake my head at my good fortune, As I shake the dust off my boots, Yesterday I was an orphan, somehow today I belong to You, Don't it make you want to laugh out loud and shout Hallelujah!" The album is loaded with that type of worshipful truth as Jason praises God for His goodness in every song.

Jason is a gifted storyteller, and like in his previous offerings, the highlights are found in his vulnerable prayer-songs, including lead single, "With Every Act of Love." It is commanded by Jesus in Matthew 5:16 to "let your light shine" so that others may praise God based on seeing the power of His life in us. We need to celebrate that freedom with our hands reaching out to others in Christ and show His light in us and let Him shine in us. That's what this song is about.

The song reminds me to make Jesus the Lord of my life and for every activity and thought in my life to point to His complete Lordship. When you sing the words, "God put a million, million doors in the world / For His love to walk through / One of those doors is you" the devotional thought we should all be thinking is whether we are submitting our lives to that truth or just singing the words. The sentiment of this song represents something that the global Church can all sing loudly, "Oh - we bring the Kingdom come / Oh - with every act of love / Jesus help us carry You / Alive in us, Your light shines through."

A soft guitar melody frames the transparent, vulnerable and moving track, "Not Right Now." God promises us in His Word that His mercies are new every morning. Whatever situation you are facing you can know that God is with you, always. That truth is tenderly portrayed in the song as Jason he achingly sings, "I know someday, I know somehow, I'll be okay, but not right now, not right now."

"Love will have the final Word" ties all of the other songs together, anchored down by the hopeful refrain, "Of all the things I've ever heard, let me remember when it hurts that Love will have the final Word, As long as God is on His Throne, I am carried by the hope that Love will have the final Word."

Right from the opening notes you'll be mesmerized by the melody and message of "Begin Again." He sings about God's faithfulness with his unique brand of gourmet lyrical phrasing filled with the truth of the Gospel for those "with ears to hear." He emotionally belts out "This one goes out to you...When everything sad isn't coming untrue, and every dream you've chased got away from you...It's never too late for a new start, if you give God the pieces of a broken heart, He makes all things beautiful in time...When you come to the end, you can begin again."

"I Don't Know How" is a powerful song which praises the loving and merciful attributes of our Savior as he achingly sings, "I have no choice but to cry out to You, Please help, 'Cause I'm helpless now, You hear my prayer when my whole world comes unglued, I know You can fix it but I don't know how. I don't know how." God's strength is made perfect in our weakness, and that biblical truth is perfectly portrayed throughout this album.

Closing Thoughts:
Love Will Have the Final Word is an emotional listening experience. All eleven songs are catchy, personal and biblically focused. If you liked A Way to See in the Dark then you absolutely must have this album. With each album, I hear maturation in the subject matter with lyrical depth and musical layers that have made Jason among my favorite male artists, along with Bebo Norman, Shaun Groves and Josh Wilson.

If you like a singer-songwriter who lays their heart on their sleeve and sings about the truth of what it means to walk with God and work out their salvation with fear and trembling, then don't miss out on one of Christian music's most treasured artists. I get welled up singing along with several of the emotion-laden songs, especially "Not Right Now," "Love will Have the final Word," "Begin Again," "I Don't Know How" and "If You Want to Love Someone." If you are looking for the top male singer-songwriter album of the year, look no further than this stellar offering.